Door to Heaven
by Jenifer1
Summary: Crossover with Stargate SG-1. A Tok'ra opperative crash lands in Cascade Harbor. The host has a history with Blair. *UPDATED*
1. Chapter 1

Door To Heaven (Part One) 

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own either "The Sentinel" or "Stargate: SG-1." No money has changed hands and no copyright infringement is intended. If you sue, you will only receive my debts. 

Author's note: Just a couple of quick ones. This story is post TSbyBS, and somewhere in the third season of SG-1. 

* * *

Erica/Maricet angled their stolen glider for entry into the atmosphere, the human praying to God that they wouldn't be automatically shot down by American fighter planes and the Tok'ra wishing it had someone to pray to for the same thing. This was an emergency landing. Neither would ever have even considered coming to Earth like this, but if they didn't make a somewhat controlled landing here and now, they were going to crash either crash on Venus or Mercury or fall into the sun. This was their only shot at survival, so they had to take it. 

The glider's computer beeped at them, indicating that all available fuel had been used up. Shit. They would have to dead stick the landing. Erica decided that a water landing would be best and aimed for the Pacific coast. Unfortunately they would be a bit farther north than she would have liked, but at least they would be in territory she knew. In fact, they were probably going to end up in Cascade Harbor, or at least a bit out to sea from it. That was her home town, or it had been before joining the Air Force. 

With all the calculations and maneuvers complete for a few moments, Maricet took the opportunity to ask a question. [Do you miss this world?] 

Erica smiled. _Sometimes. But I wouldn't miss working with you for anything, so don't go getting all guilty on me. I made the choice, and now you're stuck with me._

The feeling of a grin passed along their link. [As you are with me. Somehow I think this little unplanned trip will be very, ah, enlightening.] 

Erica's smile widened into a grin and she said aloud, "No doubt. One thing, though. You'll need to stay under while we're here until we can get to the SG-C. We wouldn't want word getting out." 

[Of course. We wouldn't want to annoy anyone further than we already have.] 

Another beep from the computer got their attention. They made their way through the atmosphere, fighting the turbulence all the way down. As the coast became visible in the coming dawn too quickly, Erica swore softly and sent up another prayer to whomever might be listening that they would survive their landing. Then the craft plowed into the water, slamming the joined pair into the yolk and knocking them unconcious. 

* * *

Detectives James Ellison and Blair Sandburg watched from the docks as the strangely shaped meteor crashed into the water. They had been here on a stakeout, but at the sight of the falling star, the superstitious slime ball they had been waiting on to make a move had hightailed it out of the area. Jim cursed their luck, but he didn't bother to try and chase. Louis wouldn't be selling any drugs tonight. He'd run back to his little rat-hole apartment and hide for a week, expecting the world to fall down around him. 

Having nothing better to do, they watched as the fiery object plowed into the waters beyond the harbor. Blair said, "Um, is it just me or did that thing seem to be going a little slowly for a hunk of rock?" 

He'd been thinking the same thing. "Nope." 

Blair looked at his Sentinel. "Could you see through the flame, see what it was?" 

He shook his head. Always looking for another test. "No, it was too bright. I had to dial it too far down to get any kind of definition." 

The younger detective shrugged. "I guess we'll know soon enough. Should I call it in?" 

"No. There'll be enough people panicking over this to overload the phones for a while." Jim looked out at the steaming, boiling section of water. It didn't take too long to cool down and settle. There wasn't much of a shockwave from the impact, not even enough to crest over the edge of the dock. That really was strange. Something was off about this. He thought about it for a moment, then said, "Hey, Chief, I think we should go out there." 

Blair looked at him strangely. Mr. Fear-of Deep-Water was suggesting they get on a boat and go out to check on some downed space rock? "You sure about that, Jim?" 

He grinned. "Yeah. I can handle it as long as the shore's visible. There's something really strange about that thing, and I think I should check it out. You coming?" He turned around and headed for the small motor boat that was tied behind them. Since it was Louis's neither worried about taking off with it. 

It didn't take them long to get there, and it looked like they would be the first to respond. Jim looked over the side of the little boat into the water, making sure to keep his phobia in check. Blair kept a hand on his arm to ground the big man. He peered past the dawn sun light that was reflecting off the surface, past the intervening water to the object at the bottom of the sea. What he saw was shocking to say the least. "It's a plane of some kind. I can see the pilot. He's unconcious but I hear a heartbeat. There's water getting into the cockpit. If someone doesn't get him out of there, he's going to die!" 

Just then, a Coast Guard boat arrived. The water was clear enough for anyone to see that the shape at the bottom of the sea was a plane, so the diver who went down had automatically taken a canister of spare air with him. The person inside looked up at the man floating outside her cockpit canopy, an odd look crossing her face. Jim thought the woman was probably a little disoriented. He could only imagine what she was thinking since her last coherent memories were likely to have been in the air. Her face cleared and she raised a hand to touch some control. The air seal cracked, letting water in to the cockpit. He knew that they would have to let the pressure equalize before they could get her out of there, but as it was she was about to be very cold. Hypothermia was going to be a big consideration. 

Once the cockpit had equalized, the canopy opened fully, allowing the diver to get in and put the spare air over the mouth and nose of the pilot. Once she could breathe again, she passed out, leaving the diver to haul her to the surface without any resistance. He came slowly to prevent the bends, which would be very fatal to someone with so obvious a concussion. It took about ten minutes to make the slow ascent, the diver being careful to keep the pilot's head immobilized. 

Once they had broken the surface, several other people entered the water with equipment. The water was still supporting her at the moment, so they put her on the backboard and put a stabilizing collar on her neck, making sure that everything was completely immobile before pulling her out of the water. 

While all this was going on, neither partner could see the figure behind all the men who were trying to save her life. But as they brought the backboard over the side of the Coast Guard cutter, Blair saw her face, and his own flashed in recognition. "Erica!" 

Jim looked at his partner. "Erica? You know this girl, Chief?" 

Blair nodded. "Erica Long. We used to date when I was still an undergrad. I was seventeen and she was nineteen. We started at Rainier the same year, and from the time we met she was always kind of protective of me. There were several guys still in high school mode that... Anyway, our second year we dated for about six months. Then she got tired of the academic scene and joined the Air Force. I haven't seen her since." 

"So what do you want to do?" 

"They'll probably take her to Cascade General. You mind taking me over there? She likes hospitals just as much as I do." 

It didn't take them very long to get back to shore and head for the hospital. Blair called Simon while Jim drove, telling him that the stakeout had been a bust and why, and that they were going to check on Erica. "All right. Keep me informed, Detective." 

"Yes, sir." 

* * *

Erica woke to the urgings of her symbiote and friend, Maricet. [Come on, girl. You need to wake up before these fine gentlemen discover something they should not know.] 

_Men?_

[Doctors. They plan on running X-rays first, then a CT scan. Neither is a very good idea with me in here.] 

Aloud, she said, "Shit." It came out as a hoarse whisper, warning enough that she was not at the top of her game. Then she began to hear other voices, one she vaguely recognized and several that she did not. She opened her eyes slowly, not wanting to blind herself with the bright lights of a hospital corridor. Her vision gradually cleared and she blinked. She was on a gurney, strapped to it for safety. There were three medical people standing over her and two men in normal clothes. One of the men was tall, with a slightly receding hairline and a militarily short haircut. His ice blue eyes and strong face matched his strong build and all of it screamed military, former or current. The other man was of average height, with long, curly, dark hair that was tied at the base of his skull with a simple elastic band, dark blue eyes and a boyish face. She knew him. "Blair?" 

He looked at her, realizing that she was awake. "Erica, you're awake! How do you feel?" 

She tried to grin, but it only came out as a slight smile. "Do you really want the answer to that?" 

Blair grinned back. "Yeah, I know. Broken ribs hurt like a bitch. How's the head? Any dizziness or nausea?" 

The doctor closest to him said, "Mr. Sandburg, I am perfectly capable of questioning my own patients." 

Erica said, "I'm sure you are, Doctor, but since I won't be your patient, I think we'll just let Blair ask them anyway." 

"What do you mean?" The old man looked positively flustered that someone so recently injured in the head could be acting this way. 

This needed to be nipped in the bud right now. "I won't be staying, sir. I refuse to stay in hospitals I haven't personally checked out for any reason, for one, and certain scans that you would have to perform on my head and chest would reveal classified information that would get you a thirty-six hour vacation in a US Air Force debriefing room, not your idea of fun, I'm sure." 

All five men looked at her like she was crazy for just a bit. Blair was the first to recover. "What kind of classifications would someone need to be able to do this?" 

"What did you have in mind?" 

"This is Jim Ellison. He's a former Army Ranger and a trained medic. Could he do the scans?" 

She looked at the other man. "I appreciate that, but you would be the only one who could handle things, and I know field medics aren't trained to run a CT scan or process X-ray film. You would have to do everything for me to allow it." 

Jim nodded. "She's right, Chief. Is there a number I can call to get someone here who can do those things?" 

Erica closed her eyes briefly. "I've been under for too long. I don't know the numbers." 

Blair was pacing, trying to figure something out. "Jim? What about the loft?" 

"Chief..." 

"I trust her. We didn't always agree on some things, but I'd trust her with my life. You and I know what to watch for with head injuries. If there were a problem, then we would bring her back." He turned to face her. "And she would then allow what ever had to be done and we'll all sit through debriefing, as long as they don't try to take us out of Cascade." 

Grinning at the stubbornness that she remembered so well, she gave a brief nod. That it didn't hurt told her that Maricet was already working on the head injury. "I know I can make sure they don't." 

Jim said, "Just one question. Is whatever you're carrying physically dangerous?" 

"No. Not at all. The only danger is in people finding out about it." 

"Then I don't have any problem with it. Doctor?" 

The older man sighed. "I don't like it, but it's the sad truth that these boys have been in here enough to have a working knowledge of how to treat a head injury even without Detective Ellison's training. All right. I'll let you go with them, but I want you two to call me in five hours with an update. If I don't like how things are going, I'll pull you back in and deal with the damned debriefing." 

The male nurse took the hint and began unstrapping Erica from the gurney. 

* * *

Once they were in the truck, Erica started to settle. She had been very nervous in the hospital, which Jim thought would make sense if she was carrying classified information not only on her person but literally in her head. He could tell that she had been telling the truth, but she also wasn't telling them everything, though that also made sense. He only hoped that whatever was going on didn't end up in his and Blair's laps. 

As he drove them to the loft, a trip that was made in silence, Jim started to notice a strange smell. It was fairly faint, even to him, but he could tell that it was actually coming from her, not something she had been around, like her plane. The scent was bugging him severely, and he didn't know why. 

When they got to the loft, Erica went to sit on the couch. Blair brought her some tea. "Thanks, Blair." 

"No problem. Can you tell us what happened at all?" 

She smiled at him. _Same ol' inquisitive Blair._ "Some. I was undercover in a, um, foreign country. My cover was blown, and I had to get out of there fast, so I went to the hanger and stole one of their planes. A few of their shots made it in, one of them hitting the fuel tank. By the time I got close enough to land to make a good landing, I had no fuel and had to dead-stick it. I couldn't see very well through the flame wall, but the instruments on those things are pretty advanced and I could tell where I was in relation to the land. I was coming in too hot, though. That's why I got knocked out. I was rammed into the console when I hit the water." A massive yawn went through her. "You mind if I sack out here on your couch? I know you have to wake me up every hour or that doctor's gonna come head hunting, but I'm _so_ tired." 

Blair smiled at her. "Sure. How's lasagna sound for dinner?" 

"Ooh! It's been so long... I'd love that! Thanks for putting me up, man. I didn't want to ask-." She stopped, remembering the circumstances of their parting. 

Blair shook his head. "I'm not one to hold a grudge, Erica. We'll talk when you're feeling better." 

She shot him a grateful smile. "Thanks. I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't been there. They probably would have called the cops on me." She would have said more, but suddenly she was asleep, the stress of the running and the last few hours catching up to her. Blair smiled as he watched her nod off, then took the afghan from the back of the couch and draped it over her still form. 

Jim had heard the entire conversation from the kitchen. As Blair joined him there and started preparations for lasagna, the bigger man said, "She wasn't lying at all. She's not telling everything, but we can't expect her to if she's covert. That'll just get her _and_ us in trouble." Then he sighed. "I noticed something weird, though. She has an odd smell coming off her. It's not exactly a bad odor, though I wouldn't use it for perfume." 

Blair looked up from his work with curiosity. "You think it has something to do with her mission?" 

"If it does, then she's carrying a biological. The smell is definitely organic, not chemical." 

Blair frowned. Surely she wouldn't be carrying a biological weapon inside herself. That would be a stupid risk indeed, especially under cover. If someone shot the container, whatever was inside would get out, and it wouldn't just harm the target. 

"Don't assume she wouldn't do it, Chief. You'd be surprised what they can order people to do." 

"Maybe, but I doubt she'd have come with us if there were a danger. She's not the kind to endanger anyone else if she's doing something stupid. Is the smell affecting you?" 

Jim shrugged. "Not really. I just get an uneasy feeling around her, not enough to get my hackles up, but enough to make me alert." 

"It's probably something you instinctively recognize, something that could be a threat. Man, I hope she's been careful with it. I'd really hate for some weird virus to get loose around here or something. And what if this thing was damaged in the crash?" 

Jim shook his head. "I don't think so. If anything like that had happened, I'd bet she'd know. They'd have briefed her pretty thoroughly on what to do if there was a break and make sure she would know if it had occurred. That way she'd know how to proceed." He didn't tell Blair that the likely procedure for that event was to get as far inside enemy territory as possible so that the agent would do lots of damage, or that there weren't cures for these things, only bodies. If she had been exposed to that kind of weapon, she would already be dead, because she would have stayed under cover and let herself die to spread the agent. He knew this, but he didn't think Blair did or needed to. It would only haunt him. 

* * *

Colonel Maybourne stepped off the military jet and onto the tarmac, breathing in the air of the coastal city. He knew what had been in that crash. He knew that those at the SG-C would be annoyed with him for making that assumption, but he felt it was warranted. After all, who else but the Goa'uld could it have been? 

One of his lieutenants came up to him, handing him the report from the Coast Guard. The description of the craft at the bottom of Cascade Harbor was definitely that of an attack glider. There was plenty of evidence that the vessel had been shot at. One of the hits had pierced the fuel tank, probably the reason for the unannounced visit. However, Maybourne had no intention of being lenient for lack of intent. He would have to find the occupant of the glider quickly. It was most likely a Jaffa. The Goa'uld didn't often travel in a lowly glider. The report said that the lone female occupant had been taken to Cascade General hospital. 

Maybourne addressed his lieutenant. "Send a team to retrieve the glider from the sea-bottom. I'm going to this hospital to retrieve the pilot. You three are with me." He indicated which of his men he meant and they all got into the black rental car. As they drove toward the hospital, the paranoid colonel contemplated what he might find when he got there, hoping that the SG-C was still outside the loop on this. That would be his only way to ensure that he got the credit for saving Earth from the danger this intruder would represent. He smiled grimly at the thought of finally getting some back for all that Hammond and his pet teams had done to him. They would be forced to realize that Earth was too vulnerable to attack to allow their niceties to continue, and to finally start actively seeking weapons off world, not just making alliances and scientific studies. The non-military attitudes that surrounded the Stargate project were sure to get them all in a lot of trouble some day. They had to realize that the rights of the individual were not as important as the survival of the rest. 

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Door to Heaven (Part Two) 

_Disclaimer: See Part One. _

Author's note: I hope no one was mad because of the cliffhanger, but this will be very long, and I thought I'd send it out in pieces instead of waiting until I got the whole thing finished. Enjoy! 

* * *

Colonel Maybourne stared at the nurse as she related the strange story to him. The pilot of the glider had been brought in unconscious, accompanied by a couple of cops who apparently knew her. That meant the person was either a lost member of the SG-C or host to a Goa'uld. The danger factor just heightened here. That the person had refused to either be X-rayed or scanned pretty much indicated to him that this was a Goa'uld, and that she went home with them promised to make this retrieval a problematic one. They would try to protect her, not knowing that she was no longer the person she had been. He and his men would, therefore, be faced with not only a hostile alien with possible dangerous hi-tech weaponry, but two pissed off cops, as well. 

He tried to get the address off the nurse, but she flat refused to give it to him, stating that she had no reason to believe that they were who they said they were. She said, "If you have a valid reason for knowing, then just talk to their boss at the Police Department. Captain Simon Banks, Major Crimes. If he thinks you should have the address he'll give it to you and he'll probably go with you. If not, I wouldn't try to cross him if I were you. That entire division is the most protective group of people I've ever met, and if they think any of their people are in trouble from you, you're life won't be worth much." 

The paranoid colonel snorted. Like he was worried about some keystone cops. The two in the house he'd have to worry about because they were there, but their department? No problem. And he didn't have to deal with them to get the address anyway. He called headquarters to get the information he needed. A condo loft apartment. 852 Prospect, #307. He ordered his men to move out. 

* * *

Jim looked at his guest, who was just waking up. She didn't look injured at all, now. He wondered how she could be doing so well so quickly. She'd slept a lot, for sure, but now she seemed fully alert and wasn't showing any signs of pain. It was probably classified. Blair came out of his room, still groggy from his night's sleep. The anthropologist and police detective had never been a morning person. Jim said, "Get your shower, Chief. Breakfast in twenty." Blair grumbled something about evil drill-sergeant detectives and proceeded into the bathroom. Jim grinned and continued to make enough eggs, bacon and toast for all three of them. He turned to Erica and said, "You'll probably want to wait for your shower until after breakfast. That way there's plenty of hot water." 

Erica grinned. "He still can't take a fast shower, hmm? Although you seem to have pared down his time. He used to take more than forty minutes, and nothing I could say would get him to quit it." 

Jim snorted. "Coffee?" 

"Sure. Where I've been it was impossible to get a good cup of coffee." 

"Can you say where that is?" 

She looked at him, her face suddenly clouded. "No, I can't. I hope you guys don't plan on grilling me about my assignment. This stuff is so classified, you either have to be in the project or a General to get the clearance." 

Jim nodded. "I understand. I used to be covert ops myself. Blair shouldn't press, but he'll ask questions anyway. Sometimes he even figures out a way around the restrictions, at least with me. He'll get all he can and then figure out the rest on his own. Maybe not the details, but enough." 

Erica sighed. Maricet spoke up within her. [What is it about you that attracts the persistent ones?] 

_Just lucky I guess._

Blair soon came out of the bathroom and they all sat down to eat the excellent breakfast Jim had made. Blair joked about the fat content of the bacon, but Jim popped back with the fact that it was turkey bacon, so there wasn't near as much as he was insinuating. Erica grinned. "Have you ever had Egyptian yeast bread? Authentic, the way they made it in ancient times?" 

Blair nodded. "Yeah! One of my students, an anthropology major, found a recipe for it on an expedition to Thebes. The only thing they couldn't authentically reproduce was the small amount of lotus that was supposed to be added to the mix. It's extinct. So he substituted unprocessed coca leaves, just dried them and ground them up. It's closely enough related to lotus that it worked, and there's such a small amount that you don't get the side effects." 

"Yeah. A friend of mine used that same recipe and gave me some just before I went under cover. Man, that stuff is good!" What she didn't way, of course, was that the batch Daniel Jackson had whipped up had been his wife's recipe and had used real lotus, which was not extinct on every world, only this one. Ra had enjoyed the recreational properties of the cocaine-like substance and had made sure that it was planted on any planet that could support it. 

Jim chuckled. "And just how did this student get the coca leaves, Chief?" He wouldn't make a fuss over it if there had been so little of it involved, but it would be a good way to tease the heck out of his Guide. 

Blair, however was well aware of his Sentinel's intentions. He grinned. "It was on the last expedition I took before I met you, Jim. We were in South America and it was a wild plant. It's not like we imported the stuff. We didn't even bring back any of the bread." 

Once they finished their breakfast, they all sat in the living room. Blair wanted to know more about her life after she left him. "So, how long have you been undercover?" 

Erica sighed. She knew Blair wouldn't be able to contain his curiosity. She kept it short. "A little more than a year." 

Looking at her face as she answered, Blair saw her put up a wall. He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't ask." 

She smiled. "That's all right. Just don't be surprised if I don't answer something." 

* * *

Colonel Maybourne got out of the black sedan and stood for just a moment. He looked up at the window of the apartment he was about to invade. He hoped that the two cops that lived there would hesitate long enough for them to be neutralized without harming them. He would, of course, do what was necessary, but it would not be their fault if they were fooled by a Goa'uld, and he couldn't blame them if they resisted. They would be protecting their friend. 

He turned to his men. "All right. Once we get up there, let me do the talking. We give the cops one chance to cooperate. If they don't, then shoot to disable. Try not to kill them. They don't know what they're dealing with. Take every precaution with the Goa'uld. As this is a female, we want to make certain it isn't a queen. If the cops are reacting to her like that, take her out immediately. We can dissect what's left later. Move out." 

* * *

Jim was standing in front of the glass door that led to the balcony. He heard car doors slamming and turned to investigate. He saw three men in black and gray army fatigues and one man in a charcoal suit. The one in the suit looked up at his balcony for a moment, seemingly thoughtful, then gave his men instructions. Jim heard every word, and cursed in a whisper. He turned to Erica quickly. "Expecting guests?" 

Alarmed at Jim's tone, both Erica and Blair stood to see what he was talking about. Erica swore loudly in a language that neither man understood. "That's Colonel Maybourne, NID. He's been a thorn in the side of the project I'm on for years! He...Damn. I don't know how to tell you two any of this without revealing classified information." 

Jim said, "Are the people on your project likely to pull a kidnap for any reason?" 

"What? No! We're trying to fix things, not make more messes! Why'd you ask something like that?" 

"If you trust your people not to take off with us if you give us information necessary to defend you and us, then I'll agree to the debrief. Chief?" 

Blair nodded without hesitation. "Yeah, me too." 

She flashed them both a grin. "All right. We don't have much time. One of the things I'm carrying is a weapon. It's not like anything on this world. I'll be using it to stop Maybourne. He likes to jump to conclusions. He's going to assume I'm one of the bad guys. He'd love nothing more than to get me into a little top secret bunker and remove the other secret I'm carrying from my head. I'll explain things in a little more detail after we're through dealing with him, but I can tell you one thing. He was given explicit instructions regarding the capture of suspected enemies the last time he pulled this stunt and he's not following those instructions. That gives any agency in the country the right to arrest his ass if he were to break into a private residence." 

Jim grinned. "Good. Sandburg, call for backup. Ms. Long, are you sure you don't need my backup gun?" 

She snorted and reached into her pocket. "I'm sure." She drew out a very strange object. It was kind of like a glove, but not quite, metallic, with a watery gem that sat in the palm. The symbol that comprised the back of the device was Egyptian. 

Blair had already called for backup and looked at the device. "Hey, isn't that the symbol of the Egyptian god, Heru'ur?" 

Focusing more on the door than on the former anthropologist, she said, "Yes, it is." The way she said it, Blair knew that fact was part of the secret. She didn't like it, but she was willing to use it. Whatever it was. 

Jim stood in front of the entertainment center, gun out. Blair stood just behind the phone table, his own weapon aimed at the door. Erica leaned against the arm of the sofa, her arms and ankles crossed, a pissed off smirk on her face. Blair grinned. He had seen her act this way once before when several kids at Rainier had tried to attack him for turning in one of their friends for dealing crack. She had beaten four of the six and Blair had taken out the other two with his backpack. This was what she did when she was in the mood to cause pain in the name of justice. 

The door broke in, and with military efficiency, all four men were in the room within seconds. But they were surprised when Jim suddenly shouted, "Freeze! Cascade PD! Drop your weapons!" 

Maybourne was shocked, to say the least, but he always recovered quickly. "All right, officers, I know you think you're doing the right thing, but this woman is not who you think she is. I'm with the government and I've been instructed to apprehend her." 

Erica grinned. "Yeah, right. You were ordered to let the SG-C handle all matters regarding the Goa'uld within the United States. Even if I were exactly what you fear the most, which I am not, you would have no jurisdiction in this matter. Your first response should have been to call General Hammond. Now, since we all know you're disobeying orders and committing a felony while doing so, you shouldn't be surprised that you are about to be arrested." 

The NID agent glared at her. "What would you know about it?" 

"My name is Erica Long. I am a Captain in the US Air Force. I am also a liaison to the Tok'ra and host to Maricet. Now I'd suggest that if you don't want to endanger the treaty between the United States and the Tok'ra, you don't attempt anything foolish." 

Maybourne stared at her. Could he have miscalculated that badly? "What would a Tok'ra be doing in a Goa'uld attack glider?" 

She snorted. "Getting the hell out of Dodge. I was undercover in Heru'ur's court. I was caught making a communique to Selmak and had to steal a glider to get away. I didn't make it unscathed. That's why I crashed. They hit the fuel tank." 

Having thought that she was fully distracted by answering him, the agent went for his gun. Jim and Blair had their hands full keeping the other three men covered. But Erica wasn't caught unawares. She lifted her hand, aimed at Maybourne, and fired the ribbon device. It wasn't set very high, but it blew him into the other men and into the door facing. 

Blair spared a glance in her direction, just in time to see her eyes suddenly glow. As she spoke, her body language changed subtly, and her voice changed, resonating strangely. _"You should feel fortunate that I am not Goa'uld, Colonel. A Goa'uld would have killed you."_

Maricet dropped her hand just as the police came around the corner. She slipped her hand into her pocket to prevent the cops from seeing the ribbon device and then lowered her head in the characteristic stance of a Tok'ra symbiote returning control of their body to their host. Erica turned slightly to the right and braced her hand inside her pocket between her leg and the arm of the couch, using the pressure to hold the ribbon device in place so she could slip it off. Then she removed her hand from her pocket. 

The four men were handcuffed and removed from the premisis as Simon Banks came into the corridor. "What the hell happened in here?" 

* * *

Captain Banks sat in the armchair while Jim and Blair sat on the sofa, all having a cup of coffee in their hands. Erica stood in front of the fireplace. "I'll tell you the entire story. It's pretty long, so bear with me. Blair, how old does conventional wisdom say the pyramid at Giza is?" 

Not sure what that had to do with any thing, Blair answered her, "About eight thousand years." 

"What would you say if I told you that conventional wisdom was about two millennia short?" Blair raised an eyebrow at her. "Ten thousand years ago, when humans were still mostly tribal and had yet to form many large civilizations, this world received a visitor, an alien parasite of a race called the Goa'uld who was looking for a new race of hosts. You see, the beings that his race were using were adapted to them. They could keep their symbiote from taking over their minds. Humans, of course, had no such defense. 

"The Goa'uld took the body of a boy who approached the ship from curiosity. He learned from his new host that, not only could the Goa'uld easily dominate the minds of humans, but with his technology, he could maintain their bodies into immortality. He also learned the boy's religion, and decided that he could take advantage of it and set himself up as its head. He took on the identity of Ra and took the entire human race into his servitude. 

"Other Goa'uld soon followed, and they set up one of the ancient Stargates on Earth, joining this world to the network of artificial wormholes that were created by a different, more ancient race of beings. They infiltrated every pantheon in the old world, setting themselves up as the gods of Egypt, Rome, Greece, and several others. They transplanted entire villages to other worlds. There are intact groups out there, examples of Earth cultures that are now extinct or evolved on this world. 

"Then, about seven thousand years ago, a small group of human warriors made an unprecedented move on the Goa'uld. One of these warriors could tell by their scent alone that they were at least partially human, though there was another scent overlaying it. He could also hear the infant Goa'uld within the Jaffa's pouches, as they move around before they are bonded to a host. It was said that he had the eyes of Horus, could tell when the pyramid ships were coming by the vibrations in the air and the ground, and could tellby the smallest taste if a well had been poisoned. They captured a minor Goa'uld as he bathed in the Nile, having gone out without an escort. They killed him, and the parasite tried to take one of them, but the warrior who was called a Guardian caught it as it leapt and crushed its head. 

"The Guardian and those with him displayed the two corpses to their people and word quickly spread throughout Egypt that the Goa'uld were false gods and the people revolted. They kicked Ra and all his company off of Earth, though they missed at least one that we know about, Seth. They buried the Stargate to prevent the Goa'uld from returning through it. Ra decided that he didn't want to deal with Earth any longer. He had all the humans he needed on other worlds, so he just left us alone. 

"The Stargate remained buried until the 1920s, when an archaeologist's team unearthed it. No one could figure the thing out. The military eventually took over the project once speculation that the thing was a transport device to other worlds, but no one could figure out the mechanism. They found a single gate address and had been trying to dial the thing, but they couldn't find the seventh symbol that would activate the gate. They eventually contacted a Dr. Daniel Jackson." 

Blair broke in. "Hey, I know him! He gave a linguistics seminar when I was still attending Rainier." 

Erica nodded. "Yes, he had a double doctorate in Egyptology and Linguistics. He had a theory that Giza was older than previously thought and that it had been built by someone other than the Egyptians, but he was laughed out of the profession. 

"The military took him on, and the minute he walked into the room with the inscriptions that adorned the coverstones of the Stargate, he corrected their translations, and within two weeks had cracked the address. He went with a military team to a world called Abydos. Long story short, they found out a lot of what I just told you and started another rebellion, only they had better technology than ancient Egypt, of course. 

"The military being as paranoid as it is, they sent a nuclear warhead with the team, just in case they found hostiles on the other side. The team leader, Colonel Jack O'Neil, was supposed to use it to blow up the Stargate, but instead, they used Ra's technology to beam the bomb onto his ship and took him out. 

"Earth continued to explore with the gates, but a year later, they discovered that Ra had not been the only threat. Apophis made a move on Abydos, taking more hosts from the people, including Jackson's wife and brother-in-law. Earth has been at war with the Goa'uld ever since." 

Erica's audience had not missed that the warrior responsible for starting the first revolution had been a Sentinel. She knew about them, but she didn't know that she was in front of one. Jim was, therefore, careful in how he phrased his question. "I assume from your conversation with Maybourne that you have one of those things in you, but it said that it was not one of these Goa'uld." 

She smiled. "That's right. About two thousand years ago, one queen Goa'uld broke away from the other system lords. She and all her descendents became Tok'ra, the resistance. There is a slight genetic difference, though not much. More like a separate ethnicity than a different race, though they do all they can to separate themselves from the Goa'uld. They don't use the healing sarcophagus that keeps the hosts of the Goa'uld alive for millennia, as it changes the thought patterns of both the host and the symbiote. They never take a host against their will unless it is an emergency, and that thankfully happens only rarely. They treat unblended humans that work with them as equals, not slaves. They have been at war with the Goa'uld for centuries. I think that it's a very good thing for them that they met Earth, though. They needed some fresh perspective." 

Blair said, "So how do you fit into all this?" He couldn't see the woman he remembered allowing another presence into her mind like that, knowing that it was a permanent arrangement as it seemed to be. She wouldn't even commit to a normal human relationship, and now she was a life partner to an alien being. 

She looked at him, remembering sadly their parting words and guessing what was going through his mind. "I know I wasn't exactly commitment girl when I knew you, Blair. When I left Rainier, I joined the Air Force. I love to fly, and I ended up a Tomcat pilot. I flew in the Gulf War, mostly strafing runs. I started getting headaches, though, in high Gs, so I was grounded until they could figure out what was causing it. I still wanted to be involved in helping people, though, so when the chance came to join a small covert ops force based in the States, I took it. That was the Stargate Project. I joined one of the SG teams. 

"But soon the headaches started coming back, and I was standing on the ground when they came, so it couldn't be blamed on the Gs any more. The base doctor did an MRI and found a tumor in my head the size of an egg." She paused, remembering that day's fear with perfect clarity. 

Blair's heart rate spiked. Simon said, "Cancer? I don't suppose these Tok'ra actually have a cure for that, do they? And if they do, why hasn't the rest of the planet heard about it?" 

She shook her head. "No they don't, but a symbiote serves as the immune system of their host. They have to wipe out the natural immune system or they would be attacked by it, so they have to provide for that immunity, and they can do a much better job of it. They can clean out any ailments in their host, even including terminal illnesses like cancer and AIDS. But they don't have independent cures for these things." 

Jim said, "So you signed up." 

She nodded. "The Tok'ra are often in need of new hosts. They double a human's normal lifespan just by being there, but eventually the host will die. As it should be. There aren't enough Tok'ra symbiotes for them to follow the same rules and die with their host. The queen who started the Tok'ra is dead, so there can be no more, unless they actually defect, and it's not wise to trust such defectors. Too often, they've betrayed us. 

"I joined the Tok'ra, and Maricet's prior host was reaching the end of her life. I got to know them both over the course of a month, and then Maricet blended with me. Of course, Rasha died, but it was her time." 

Jim frowned. "How old was she?" 

"Two hundred and fifteen years old. Nothing could have kept her alive much longer except the sarcophagus, and that's no solution." She paused for a moment, then said, "After we'd been blended for about a year, we were assigned to go undercover in Heru'ur's court. There had been a build up of people on his palace world, and we thought it would be a good idea to see what he was up to. As far as we were able to determine, he's not actually building military strength, at least not on that world, just people. He's actually granting bonuses for those Jaffa who become parents. He's after a population explosion, and I'm not sure why. Before we could find out, we were caught, and we had to get the hell out of there." 

Jim said, "You've said a lot of pretty outrageous things, Ms. Long, and you haven't said a lot to back it up. Maybourne's loud mouth and that weapon of yours give you some credence, but don't you think we deserve a little more proof than that?" It wasn't that he didn't believe her. He just wanted to be able to tell the difference between a human and a Goa'uld. If the Sentinel in her story had been able to tell the difference, then so should he, so he wanted to observe her change, to see what she looked like when Maricet was in charge, and that would be the best proof she could give him. 

She grinned at him. Then her head suddenly went limp, dropping to her chest. Jim trained his senses on her, determined to imprint the Goa'uld "pattern" into his mind. Her head suddenly snapped up, her eyes glowed momentarily, and the scent that Jim had been detecting from her suddenly intensified. He remembered that it had done so earlier, when the entity had spoken to Maybourne. He made certain to catalogue that scent so that he would always remember it, and it would always catch his attention. 

Maricet just looked at him for a moment. Simon's quiet curse had gone mostly unnoticed by the other three in the room. She smiled gently at her challenger. "A Guardian should know a Goa'uld or a Tok'ra on scent, but then, that was the point, wasn't it?" 

* * *

Deep in the caves of his compound, a god sat in rule over his timy empire of chaos. His servants were few, but his warrior strength was increasing daily. Taken both from the existing street armies and from the sports pride of the local University, they would soon be ready to help him start a war to rival every other in the history of this miserable world. 

The first audio-visual radio transmission that Earth had ever sent out was an address of Adolf Hitler. The war god thought that a being like that would make the perfect host, and he had come to Earth in a camoflaged ship, hoping to take Hitler and use him to take over the world of the Tau'ri. He would be able to use the huge population as cannon fodder and take over the Empire. 

Unfortunately, by the time he arrived on Earth, the Allies had won the war and Hitler was presumed dead. His ship had been dammaged on reentry, thanks to a traitorous Tok'ra opperative, so not only was he unable to complete his plans for Earth, he was also stranded. 

Now, as he watched the news footage of the falling object entering the waters of Cascade Harbor in Washington, he knew that this was his chance. He would be able to get off this miserable little world, the planet that held his humblest beginnings, and reclaim his place amongst the System Lords. 

One of his soldiers came into the room and bowed quickly on one knee. "Lord Ares, I have news of the pilot of the glider." 

Ares voice resonated with the tones of his parasitic presence. "What have you found?" 

"The NID traced her to a private residence. Apparantly she was known by one of the cops on the scene, and rather than allow her to be X-rayed, he took her home with him. When the NID tried to aprehend her, they were arrested. Apparantly the CO of the group was disobeying orders. Some other agency is supposed to handle all Goa'uld matters on Earth, probably the same ones that took out Setesh in Seatle." 

Ares thought about it for a moment. She had to be Tok'ra. No other from off world would know the situation with the NID. "Go to the policeman's house tomorrow. Bring the pilot and her friend to me. They will be the perfect hostages to prevent the police from interfering with my plans." _And they will also be the perfect vessles to provide me with a new host if they can be persuaded to mate._

* * *

End Part Two 

_Well, that's part two. Sorry it took so long. I kinda got sidetracked with the Beginnings Series and the plotbunnies that insisted on breeding in the attic. Hopefully the next segment won't take so long to come out with. _


End file.
